Device for making a culture of micro-organisms

ABSTRACT

An elongated member supports a culture medium which has openings extending inwardly from the surface in one section of the culture medium, the other section being free of openings. The elongated member is in a container which has an open end with means to seal the open end.

United States Patent 1191 [111 3,862,013 Pagano Jan. 21, 1975 [54] DEVICE FOR MAKING A CULTURE 0F MICRO-ORGANISMS [75] lnventor: Joseph F. Pagano, Paoli, Pa.

[73] Assignee: Smithkline Corporation,

Philadelphia, Pa.

[22] Filed: May 24, 1973 121] Appl. No.: 363,593

[52] US. Cl. 195/139, 195/1035 1511 Int. Cl C12b 1/02 [58] Field of Search 195/139, 1035, 127

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,589,983 6/1971 Holderith et a1 195/1035 3,616,265 10/1971 Calabrese et a1. 195/139 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Frobisher, Fundamentals of Microbiology, 7th Edition, page 437 (1962),

Primary Examiner-Alvin E. Tanenholtz Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Smith, Harding, Earley & Follmer 1 1 ABSTRACT An elongated member supports a culture medium which has openings extending inwardly from the surface in one section of the culture medium, the other section being free of openings. The elongated member is in a container which has an open end with means to seal the open end.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures DEVICE FOR MAKING A CULTURE OF MICRO-ORGANISMS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Devices for making a culture of micro-organisms having a culture medium which can be brought directly into contact with an area of a patients body and then returned to a sealed container for growing microorganisms picked up are known to the art as is seen, for example, in the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,265, issued Oct. 26, 1971. Such devices have as their intended purpose providing office diagnosis within 24 hours without the necessity for a laboratory.

The prior art devices fail to provide for the fact that some organisms grow or produce products of metabolism better in the subsurface regions of the culture medium. For example, Group A B-hemolytic streptococci produces more hemolysin when growing subsurface. In laboratories this is taken care of by inoculating the cul-- ture medium using a wire loop or needle containing the micro-organism on its surface. Such inoculation is not practical for the doctor who uses the devices under discussion.

In accordance with this invention, the doctors problem is solved by providing him with a device having openings in the culture medium to receive the microorganisms subsurface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION is in a container which has an open end with means to seal the open end. Preferably a section of the culture medium is free of openings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a device of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the culture support used in the device of FIG. 1 before the culture medium is added;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view (partially broken away) of the culture support of FIG. 2 with the culture medium in place;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view (partially broken away) of the culture medium of FIG. 3 showing the openings;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on the plane indicated by the line 55 in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a right hand end elevation of the device of FIG. I with the culture support removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to FIG. 1, a device I for making a culture of micro-organisms in accordance with the invention has a transparent container 2 of, for example, glass or a plastic such as an acrylic resin such as methyl mcthacrylate or a polycarbonate resin. As shown in FIG. 2, an elongated member 4 has an inner end 5 and a recessed portion 6 in opposed substantially flat faces 8 (only one being shown). Each recessed portion is intermediate the ends of the elongated member 4 and has multiple small protrusions 10 to facilitate the retention of a body 12 of a solid culture medium in the recessed portions. The culture medium is preferably flush with the adjoining portions of faces 8. A multiplicity of openings 14 are placed in the section of culture medium 12 adjacent the inner end 5 of elongated member 4. They extend from the surface inwardly to the member 4. Advantageously they are relatively small, for example, having a diameter in the range offrom about 0.1 mm to about 2.0 mm. The openings are readily formed by a punching operation with an appropriate needle punch.

The side edges of elongated member 4 are guided by opposed grooves l6, 16 in hollow guide member 18 which has a cylindrical portion 20 (FIG. 1) provided with ridges 22 which sealingly engage a cylindrical entrance portion 24 of container 2. The inner end of guide member 18 has a pair of opposed brush members 28, 28 positioned adjacent grooves l6, 16 so as to engage elongated member 4 as it is inserted into container Guide member 18 has a cylindrical entrance portion 32 which is engaged by a plug portion 34 (FIG. I) of member 4 having a peripheral ridge 36 to seal closed the end of guide member 18. The outer end of elongated member 4 is in the form of a handle 38.

The culture medium will be selecteddepending upon the micro-organisms involved. Suitable solid culture mediums are well known to the art. Reference may be had, for example, to the culture mediums disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,265 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Agar culture mediums are preferred since their solidity is readily controlled by varying the percent of Agar. A typical culture medium for use in connection with Group A B-hemolytic streptococci as set forth below:

Sodium Chloride 5 g. Agar 3.0% by weight of the total formula. Defibrinated Sheep blood 5% by weight of the total formula.

I claim:

1. A device for making a culture of micro-organisms comprising:

an elongated member,

a culture medium supported by said member, said culture medium having a multiplicity of openings extending inwardly from the surface and having a diameter of from about 0.1 mm to about 2.0 mm,

a container for the elongated member having an open end, and

means to seal the open end of the container.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the openings extend inwardly to the elongated member.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the openings are all in one section of said culture medium and another section thereof is free of openings. 

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the openings extend inwardly to the elongated member.
 3. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the openings are all in one section of said culture medium and another section thereof is free of openings. 